Philip "Spike" Edney (born 11 December 1951) is an English musician who, since the 1960s, has performed with a number of bands, most notably with

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

in their live concerts, where his participation started in 1984 during

The Works tour The Works Tour was the tenth headlining concert tour by the British rock band Queen (band), Queen to promote their successful 1984 album ''The Works (Queen album), The Works''. During the tour, Queen participated in the Rock in Rio festival in 1 ...

. During the mid-1970s, he recorded and toured with The Tymes and

Ben E. King Benjamin Earl King (né Nelson; September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015) was an American soul and R&B singer and record producer. He is best known as the singer and co-composer of " Stand by Me"—a US Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later i ...

. He is primarily known for playing keyboards but also plays bass, guitar, trombone and contributes backing vocals. Subsequently, in the late 1970s, he was musical director for

Edwin Starr Charles Edwin Hatcher (January 21, 1942 – April 2, 2003), known by his stage name Edwin Starr, was an American singer and songwriter. Starr was famous for his Norman Whitfield-produced Motown singles of the 1970s, most notably the number-one ...

and, during the early 1980s, worked with

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor the following year the band wen ...

The Boomtown Rats The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", " Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original li ...

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and

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. He also appeared with Peter Green on his comeback tour. Edney's collaboration with Queen included mostly keyboards (his main instrument), plus rhythm guitar and backing vocals. Accompanying the band on its tours since 1984, replacing

Fred Mandel Frederick Lawrence Mandel (born 1953) is a Canadian session musician, keyboard player and guitarist. Career Born in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Mandel became involved in music from an early age. He started playing the piano at four and picked up t ...

. He was also part of Roger Taylor's side project The Cross as well as Brian May's band when they toured in 1993 and 1998. Edney can be seen on Queen's '' Live at Wembley Stadium'' and ''

Hungarian Rhapsody The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R.106 (french: Rhapsodies hongroises, german: Ungarische Rhapsodien, hu, Magyar rapszódiák), is a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846–1853, and late ...

'' concert films, playing rhythm guitar on " Hammer to Fall," and piano on both " Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and " Tutti Frutti." He can also be seen playing in the background during Queen's 1985 Live Aid performance at Wembley Stadium.

SAS Band

Edney formed SAS Band (Spike's All Stars) in 1994, playing their first gig at The Gosport Festival (near Edney's hometown of

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

). The original band featured

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on drums, Neil Murray on bass and

Jamie Moses Jamie Moses (born 30 August 1955) is an English rock and pop singer and guitarist. He was formerly a member of The Brian May Band, Queen + Paul Rodgers, Mike & the Mechanics and Broken English. Biography The son of an American father (a mem ...

on guitar. The band has constantly fluctuating personnel, including musicians from Queen,

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, Free,

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, and

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, and solo artists including

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, and

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. Others that have appeared with the band include Suggs,

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and

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Other roles with Queen

After the death of

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in th ...

(who was

's main pianist), Edney took over Mercury's role on piano during

Queen + Paul Rodgers Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

2005, 2006, and 2008 tours, playing all piano parts on a

Korg Triton The Korg Triton is a music workstation synthesizer, featuring digital sampling and sequencing, released in 1999. It uses Korg's HI Synthesis tone generator and was eventually available in several model variants with numerous upgrade options. The ...

keyboard, in addition to all other keyboard parts. He returned as keyboardist for the Queen + Adam Lambert tours in 2012, 2014, and the 2015–2020 tour schedule. He has also been the keyboardist for the London production of ''

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded by British rock band Queen for their 1977 album ''News of the World''. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and it placed at numb ...

'' since it opened in 2002. Edney was also the musical director of the official Queen tribute band, the Queen Extravaganza.

Equipment

During tours with Queen in the mid 1980s, Edney played a Gibson Les Paul Junior as his main guitar for the rhythm parts of " Hammer to Fall". During the Queen + Paul Rogers tours he used a Korg Triton before settling on a Korg M3 for Queen + Adam Lambert tours.

Selected discography

Albums

* Queen: '' A Kind of Magic'' (1986) * Queen: ''

Live Magic ''Live Magic'' is the second live album by British rock band Queen. It was recorded at various live shows during ''The Magic Tour'' and was released on 1 December 1986. However, it was not released in the United States until August 1996. It ...

'' (1986) * The Cross: '' Shove It'' (1987) * The Cross: '' Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know'' (1990) * The Cross: '' Blue Rock'' (1991) *

Lucio Battisti Lucio Battisti (5 March 1943 – 9 September 1998) was an influential Italian singer-songwriter and composer. He is widely recognized for songs that defined the late 1960s and 1970s era of Italian songwriting. Battisti released 18 studio albums ...

: ''

Cosa succederà alla ragazza ''Cosa succederà alla ragazza'' (''What will happen to the girl'') is an album by the Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti. It was released in October 1992 by Columbia Records. The album was Italy's 57th best selling album in 1992. Trac ...

'' (1992) * Queen: '' Live at Wembley '86'' (1992) * The

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury an ...

Band: '' Live at the Brixton Academy'' (1994) * SAS Band: ''SAS Band'' (1997) * Brian May: '' Another World'' (1998; keyboards on " Slow Down") * SAS Band: ''The Show'' (2001) *

: '' Return of the Champions'' (CD/DVD, 2005) * Queen + Paul Rodgers: '' Live in Ukraine'' (CD/DVD, 2009) *Queen:

(2012) * Queen + Adam Lambert: Live in Japan (2016) * Queen: '' Bohemian Rhapsody: The Original Soundtrack'' (2018) *Queen + Adam Lambert: Live Around The World (2020)

Videos

* Queen: '' Live in Rio'' (VHS/DVD, 1985/2013) *Queen: We Are The Champions: Final Live in Japan (1992) * Queen: '' Live at Wembley Stadium'' (VHS/DVD, 1990/2003/2011) * Queen: ''

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness was a benefit concert held on Easter Monday, 20 April 1992, at Wembley Stadium in London, United Kingdom for an audience of 72,000. The concert was produced for television by Ray Burdis, ...

'' (VHS/DVD, 1992/2002/2013) * The Brian May Band: '' Live at the Brixton Academy'' (VHS, 1994) * '' 46664 – The Event'' (DVD, 2004) * ''

Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine ...

'' (DVD, 2004) * Queen + Paul Rodgers: '' Return of the Champions'' (CD/DVD, 2005) * Queen + Paul Rodgers: '' Super Live in Japan'' (DVD, 2006) * Queen + Paul Rodgers: '' Live in Ukraine'' (CD/DVD, 2009) *Queen:

(2012) * Queen + Adam Lambert: Live in Japan (2016) *Queen + Béjart: Ballet For Life (2019) *Queen + Adam Lambert: Live Around The World (2020)

References

External links

*
SAS Band websiteSpike Edney interviewed on RadioLIVE, New Zealand, following Sacha Baron Cohen to play Freddie Mercury announcement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edney, Spike English rock musicians Queen (band) Living people 1951 births Musicians from Portsmouth People from Hackney Central English rock keyboardists English rock pianists English rock guitarists Queen + Adam Lambert members Queen + Paul Rodgers members The Cross (band) members Peter Green Splinter Group members